Centering the steering wheel

[P'bert]

Last week, I had the local Les Schwab shop align our '85 300D. The day before, I had installed new tie rods, so the alignment was no doubt out of spec when I delivered it to LS.

Among other things, the steering wheel had to be held somewhat to the left for the car to travel straight down the road. Prior to my installing the tie rods, this had not been the case. So, I explained the situation to the LS guy and asked him to straighten the wheel. He wasn't so sure he could do that and, sure enough, he didn't. Otherwise, the car drives fine.

My question: I recall from forum discussions that the first step in aligning a 123 is to lock the steering box in the straight ahead position. I would appreciate that this piece of information be confirmed before I harass the fellow who did the alignment. If any of you could append a pertinent page from the Benz manual, that would be especially appreciated.

Thanks,

Phil
'85 300D, the queen's carriage
'84 Euro 300D, peasant class